An efficient method for obtaining similarity data

Measurements of similarity have typically been obtained through the use of rating, sorting, and perceptual confusion tasks. In the present paper, a new method for measuring similarity is described, in which subjects rearrange items so that their proximity on a computer screen is proportional to their similarity. This method provides very efficient data collection. If a display hasn objects, then, after subjects have rearranged the objects (requiring slightly more thann movements),n(n-1)/2 pairwise similarities can be recorded. As long as the constraints imposed by two-dimensional space are not too different from those intrinsic to psychological similarity, the technique appears to offer an efficient, user-friendly, and intuitive process for measuring psychological similarity.     

The effect of interstimulus procedures

NaCl detection and recognition thresholds were measured with and without a prior artificial raising of the level of adaptation by a molar salt mouthrinse. In both cases, it was found that an interstimulus procedure involving water mouthrinses yielded lower thresholds than a procedure with no rinses. These results were seen to be predicted from adaptation level changes. The literature was seen to confirm these results, while difficulties in threshold measurement were discussed.     

A method for the objective study of tool-using behavior

Key pecking for food was shaped in four crows within a conventional operant-conditioning test chamber. When pecking stabilized, a metal screen with openings 2.5 cm high by 1.0 cm wide, was placed over the response key, so that the crow could still see but could no longer peck the key. At the same time, several dozen wooden matchsticks, which could be used to operate the key, were placed in the test chamber. The crows made no use of these during 50 to 75 hr of exposure to this condition. Subsequently, the behavior of two crows was shaped so that they approached the matchsticks, picked one up in their beaks, approached the response key with the matchstick in their beak, and finally operated the response key by poking the matchstick through the screen. This shaping procedure was ineffective with the two other crows. However, these birds were successfully trained through positional fading of the tool. This involved suspending a metal rod from the ceiling so that it hung directly in front of the response key, and the crow had only to peck it to operate the key. Then, the rod was gradually lowered by lengthening its tether until it eventually rested on the floor of the test chamber. The principal advantage of this methodology is the automatic recording of the terminal (tool-using) behavior under study.     

邵雍与司马光相似性比较研究——兼论两者学术思想的相互影响

邵雍与司马光存在诸多相似之处。二人均以儒学为本,对佛老持辩证态度。其象数易学均通过数学与易图来解释宇宙与人世的规律,最终建立儒学宇宙论。观物、治心与中和等命题是二人理学关注的重点。二人德行高尚、声名远播,既严格要求自己,也注重培育家风。通过总结历史,他们试图找出导致兴衰治乱的原因,以期有助于现实政治的治理。作为反对变法的保守派,二人政见一致。同时,他们都追求闲适平淡的生活,有诸多共同爱好。在诗艺观上,品味也相似。这些共同点不仅可以解释二人关系之紧密,而且还反映出他们存在思想上的交流与对话。邵雍的象数易学、史论与安乐精神对司马光具有重要启发,司马光的中和论对邵雍也有影响。     

A framework for profile similarity: integrating similarity, normativeness, and distinctiveness

Many questions in personality psychology lend themselves to the analysis of profile similarity. A profile approach to issues such as personality judgment, personality similarity, behavioral consistency, developmental stability, and person-environment fit is intuitively appealing. However, it entails conceptual and statistical challenges arising from the overlap among profile similarity and normativeness, which presents potential confounds and potential opportunities. This article describes the normativeness problem, articulating the need to evaluate profile similarity alongside normativeness and distinctiveness. It presents conceptual and psychometric foundations of a framework differentiating these elements for pairs of profiles. It derives two models from this framework, and it discusses the application of their components to a variety of research domains. Finally, it presents recommendations and implications regarding the use of these components and profile similarity more generally. This approach can reveal and manage potential confounds, and it can provide theoretical insights that might otherwise be overlooked.     

Autobiographical fluency: A method for the study of personal memory

Fifty-five subjects recalled autobiographical episodes or personal facts such as names of friends and teachers, from different lifetime periods. In each case, subjects were given 90 sec in which to retrieve as many items as possible. Also tested was subjects' fluency in generating items from semantic categories (animals, vegetables, British prime ministers, and U.S. presidents). Results of cluster analysis on the fluency tasks showed a dissociation between subjects' ability to retrieve personal episodes, personal semantic information, and nonpersonal semantic information. The dissociations observed in the fluency tasks are interpreted in terms of the different retrieval strategies required for the different types of information sought.     

A conjunctive feature similarity effect for visual search

Traditional models of visual search assume interitem similarity effects arise from within each feature dimension independently of other dimensions. In the present study, we examine whether distractor-distractor effects also depend on feature conjunctions (i.e., whether feature conjunctions form a separate “feature” dimension that influences interitem similarity). Spatial frequency and orientation feature dimensions were used to generate distractors. In the bound condition, the number of distractors sharing the same conjunction of features was higher than that in the unbound condition, but the sharing of features within frequency and orientation dimensions was the same across conditions. The results showed that the target was found more efficiently in the bound than in the unbound condition, indicating that distractor-distractor similarity is also influenced by conjunctive representations.     

A conjunctive feature similarity effect for visual search

Traditional models of visual search assume interitem similarity effects arise from within each feature dimension independently of other dimensions. In the present study, we examine whether distractor–distractor effects also depend on feature conjunctions (i.e., whether feature conjunctions form a separate “feature” dimension that influences interitem similarity). Spatial frequency and orientation feature dimensions were used to generate distractors. In the bound condition, the number of distractors sharing the same conjunction of features was higher than that in the unbound condition, but the sharing of features within frequency and orientation dimensions was the same across conditions. The results showed that the target was found more efficiently in the bound than in the unbound condition, indicating that distractor–distractor similarity is also influenced by conjunctive representations.     

A classificatory theory of similarity

Summary This paper outlines a classificatory theory of cognitive similarity and compares it to feature approaches. The theory assumes that similarity is a function of the number of classes contained in the universe referred to in the judgments and the number of elements contained in the class defined by the two comparison stimuli. The theory is tested in a number of studies in which verbal stimuli are used. Most of the experiments concern context effects predicted by the theory. An empirical comparison is made between the classificatory theory and a feature theory. It is argued that the classificatory theory accounts for some of the data more easily than a feature approach does. Some implications for the use of similarity data in multidimensional scaling are also discussed.     

A comparison of methods for measuring the interletter similarity between capital letters

Measures of interletter similarity are often required in perception experiments. The most reliable and valid of the available measures appears to be Townsend’s (1971) set of similarity parameters based on the Luce choice model. A simple mechanical measure offered a fairly strong prediction of the Luce choice-model similarity measure, as did a subjective rating measure based on the 10-point visual similarity ratings of eight subjects. By comparison, Gibson et al.’s (1963) matching-confusion matrix faired poorly, as did Gibson’s (1969) distinctive feature analysis based on a letter pair’s number of shared features. Distinctive feature analysis was significantly improved by substituting the feature set proposed by Geyer and DeWald (1973) or by weighting the features optimally via regression analysis. Such analyses suggested that figural curvature may be a particularly important perceptual feature, but in no case did these feature-analytic models predict the Luce measure as well as the mechanical or subjective rating measures.     

A microprocessor-based real-time BASIC random interstimulus interval generator with different probability density functions

A low-cost random interstimulus interval (ISI) generator with different probability density functions is described. The frequency histograms of the output ISIs are uniformly, normally, exponentially, and binary distributed functions.